


Merlin, I Shrunk Myself

by hmweasley



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Banned Together Bingo, Crack, Gen, Inspired by Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Post-Hogwarts, Spiders Mating, Tiny Harry Potter, Trans Harry Potter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:29:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25083904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hmweasley/pseuds/hmweasley
Summary: His fingers found the wand the same second he tripped over the hem of his half-on robes. The wand tumbled to the floor with him as his arms and legs flailed, trying and failing to catch his fall.Suddenly on his back, Harry blinked, doing his best to orientate himself again.He’d lost the wand in the fall. It must have been laying on the carpet somewhere in the bedroom. Harry looked around only to freeze.He shot to his feet as he stared at his unfamiliar surroundings. It took a minute for him to realize that he was still in his and Ginny’s bedroom except everything around him was suddenly giant-sized.Or, Harry accidentally shrinks himself. As he fights to survive in his own home, his wife and best friends rush to figure out why he's disappeared.
Relationships: Harry Potter & Ron Weasley, Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger & Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger & Harry Potter, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley
Comments: 7
Kudos: 25
Collections: Banned Together Bingo 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the "sexy spider" prompt for Banned Together Bingo. But the spider won't be making it's grand entrance until a future chapter, so you have time to prepare yourselves.

“Wand, wand, wand,” Harry chanted to himself, searching for the object in question even as he struggled with getting his second arm into his robes.

He was late for work. Even later than the usual five minute leeway he gave himself. That morning had been time for his weekly testosterone potion, which he’d forgotten to start brewing until just the night before, but on top of that, he’d gotten distracted trimming the twigs on his broom while the potion had finished brewing.

Thank Merlin, he was his own boss, excluding the Minister for Magic herself, so he could still arrive at work with embarrassment as his only punishment. Of course, he could only get to work if he first found his wand, which was necessary both for Apparating and at least half his daily tasks as an Auror.

His glasses were askew, having been jostled during his struggle, so he couldn’t see and relied only on touch as his hand felt around on the bedside table for the wand.

It had to be there. He always sat the wand there while he was getting dressed.

His fingers found the wand the same second he tripped over the hem of his half-on robes. The wand tumbled to the floor with him as his arms and legs flailed, trying and failing to catch his fall.

Suddenly on his back, Harry blinked, doing his best to orientate himself again.

He’d lost the wand in the fall. It must have been laying on the carpet somewhere in the bedroom. Harry looked around only to freeze.

He shot to his feet as he stared at his unfamiliar surroundings. It took a minute for him to realize that he was still in his and Ginny’s bedroom except everything around him was suddenly giant-sized.

Had he accidentally enlarged the entire place? Was it possible to do that complicated of magic on accident? He hadn’t performed the slightest bit of accidental magic in years, but his brain could have told his wand anything during the fall without him realizing it. Nonverbal magic had been much easier since he’d studied it in Auror training.

Glancing around, he found his wand and gasped. It appeared to be a mile away and had been enlarged to the same scale as the rest of the room. It only hit him in that moment that he had shrunk himself, not enlarged everything else.

His stomach sank. Never before had he felt so small—literally and figuratively—and helpless.

For a moment, he stood frozen in place, but a split second later, his Auror instincts kicked in. He ran for his wand, desperate to reverse the spell’s effect. Though he hadn’t been conscious of casting it, he must have done a simple shrinking spell on himself, and that was easy enough to reverse.

He reached the wand, too winded for how short of a distance he’d actually covered, and pressed his hand to the wood. His hand couldn’t grasp the full circumference of the wand, and the wood felt rougher under his palm than before. It was more like the trunk of a small tree than his wand. There were grooves and splinters that Harry had never seen before.

Squeezing his eyes shut, though he wasn’t sure why, Harry muttered the countercharm with his hand pressed against the wand.

Nothing happened.

He was as small and insignificant as he’d been seconds before. He swore and tried again with the same lack of a result.

Either he had cast a more complicated spell than he thought and rid himself of his magic or, the slightly less terrifying option, he was too small for his wand to register him. The thought of the latter sent a pang through his heart. It was like being betrayed by an old friend.

He lowered himself to the ground, the shag carpet like a field of wild grass beneath him. Absentmindedly, he tugged at the strands as his mind worked a mile a minute. 

There was too much to process, and he was at risk of shutting down completely when his brain momentarily gave up on finding a solution.

It was a struggle to remind himself that he was still in his own house. He’d once been murdered by Voldemort; he could survive one day in his own house at any size. It was perfectly safe, and someone at work was liable to realize he was missing and send someone to find him.

All he had to do was wait.

His fist tightened around a carpet strand and tugged.

* * *

Hermione hastily scrawled across the parchment. The only things on her to do list for that day were pieces of routine business for the Minister for Magic, but the fact that it was things she did on a regular basis didn’t make it any less time consuming. She sighed and rubbed at her brow as she tried to think of a way to word what she needed to say just a bit differently from the hundred times she’d said it before.

Since joining the Ministry, she had learned why bureaucratic documents always sounded dull. There was so much to be said, yet so much of it was the same thing repeated time and again. There were only so many ways to be creative.

A knock on her office door, made her glance up.

“Come in,” she called.

The door opened to reveal Auror Lawrence, a muscular woman in her early thirties who was Harry’s second-in-command in the Auror office. Her curly black hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail as she closed the door carefully behind her, her shoulders stiff.

“Sorry to bother you, Minister,” Lawrence said as she perched herself on the chair in front of Hermione’s desk. “But some urgent business has come up.”

Hermione frowned at her.

“What kind of business?” she asked slowly.

Anything happening in the Auror Office should have gone through Harry first, which meant it should have been him Hermione was talking to, and even that was rare, with Harry typically reporting to the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement before coming to her.

Lawrence had only appeared in her office without Harry a handful of times, and none of those times had been good omens. As she laid her quill down, Hermione already felt five times more exhausted than she’d been before.

Taking a deep breath, Lawrence answered, “Auror Potter should have reported to the Ministry three hours ago, but he’s still not here.”

Hermione let out a long breath and leaned back in her chair.

From the moment Lawrence had appeared, she’d expected that her news had something to do with Harry, but she had expected something to have happened at work, not before he’d even gotten there. What could have possibly happened at home?

“This doesn’t usually happen, right?” she questioned.

She knew the answer was no. Harry was sometimes a little late, but he certainly wasn’t three hours late. That was unlike him, and since she hadn’t heard anything from Ginny, Hermione assumed that her sister-in-law didn’t know what had happened to him either.

“Not at all,” Lawrence said, her brow furrowed. “And I tried contacting him, but we haven’t gotten a reply. It seemed like no one was home, but we can’t actually enter the house without a permit.”

Hermione nodded.

“I’ll take care of it.”

As Minister for Magic, she had as much right to enter the house as the Aurors, but as the sister-in-law of the owners of the house, she could get in easily.

“For now,” Hermione continued, “I’m trusting you to keep the Auror Office up and running. I’ll figure out what’s happening with Harry and contact your office if we need any assistance.”

Lawrence looked like she wanted to argue for a moment. Missing people, after all, had been Lawrence’s primary responsibility before she was promoted, and there Hermione was usurping her. But she seemed to think better of arguing a second later and, nodding, bit her lip instead.

“Please, let us know whatever you find,” she said as she stood up.

Hermione gave her one last nod before she disappeared from the office.

The second she was gone, Hermione slumped down in her chair, allowing herself a brief moment to worry.

But as soon as the moment had come, it passed. She had a lot of things she needed to do, and they needed to be done quickly.

There was never any telling how much trouble Harry Potter could get himself into.

* * *

Back at the Potter house, Harry had no idea how long he’d been shrunk. His brain was too busy searching for a solution to worry about the passage of time. How late for work he was hadn’t crossed his mind since he’d realized he was tiny except for when he reminded himself that someone would have to find him eventually.

He’d considered using Floo powder to travel to the Ministry. Theoretically, if he could throw it in the fire and utter the name, he could get there, but after the failure with his wand, he was more than a little worried that he would just incinerate himself if he tried.

Besides, what was he meant to do once he got to the Ministry? Chances were that he’d be squashed under someone’s shoe like a bug before he had any chance of gaining someone’s attention.

No, he needed a different plan. Preferably one that didn’t rely on magic, since (for the first time in what felt like years) he couldn’t rely on magic at all.

A letter! That was what he needed.

No magic was required, and it was something that Ginny or anyone else who came for him would have to see it laying around. He didn’t know if his voice would travel any better than the buzzing of a fly, but a letter they would easily find while searching for him.

He glanced around the room for the needed supplies before realizing that all of their stationery was downstairs. He and Ginny didn’t have so much as a desk in their bedroom. Instead, he could picture the stack of parchment in a drawer in the kitchen vividly in his mind’s eye. They’d sit at the kitchen table and scrawl out letters together before sending them off.

It had all felt perfectly convenient when getting to the kitchen had been a seconds long stroll across the house. Suddenly, it felt like a terrible idea not to have parchment, ink, and quills stocked in every room in the house.

With an increasing feeling of tread, Harry approached the top of the stairs. He hadn’t yet looked down them, uncertain about the feasibility of descending.

He sighed as he caught sight of the ground floor below him. The two floors of the house had never felt so isolated from each other.

Just one stair down required a jump that would probably immobilize him. The only saving grace was that the stairs were carpeted, which would soften any fall he took. He didn’t know if it would be enough, but it was something.

He took a deep breath.

It wasn’t impossible, especially with the shag of the carpet, which gave him hand and footholds to use while maneuvering himself down. He clung on tightly as he lowered himself over the edge, but he soon realized that he didn’t have footholds at all.

His feet couldn’t find any purchase in the carpet, and he scrambled for several seconds before realizing that his only options were to rely on upper body strength or let himself slide down to the top of the next stair.

Still not confident in surviving a drop that high, Harry chose the first option. His arms ached by the time his feet found solid ground again. Glancing down the stairs once more, he whined at how much farther he had to go. He still had energy, but it wouldn’t be enough to make it all the way down without some extensive breaks.

He could only hope that no one would show up at the house until he’d managed to write that letter. He would make quite the picture hanging to the carpet for dear life; he imagined he’d never hear the end of it.

Sighing, he began lowering himself down the next stair. He kept telling himself that it was nothing but another Auror mission. After all, many of those were long and unrewarding, but he managed to complete them. This would be no different. This time, his own well being hung in the balance.

He made it to the top of the fourth stair before the shaking of his arms became too much. His muscles revolted as he tried to grip onto a new bunch of carpet strands, and he went tumbling down, down, down.

* * *

Back at the Ministry, Hermione was pacing in her office as she considered her options.

It was doubtful that Harry had been kidnapped. If that were the case, it meant that someone was trying to make a statement, and there wouldn’t have been a quiet disappearance. It seemed far more likely that an accident of some kind had happened, as far as Hermione could tell, but she wasn’t sure what that accident could have been.

She was tempted to head straight for the Potter house herself to see what was the matter, but she couldn’t ignore the possibility that she’d be walking into a trap.

What if she was wrong about possible kidnappers? What if they wanted to take out more than just Harry and she played into their hands?

She came to a decision and pulled out her wand.

“Expecto patronum!”

Her familiar otter appeared, cloaking her office in a bright blue light. It had been a long time since Hermione had last cast the charm, and despite herself, she grinned at the patronus.

She knew her sister-in-law too well to divulge all of the information she had in her message. Ginny would be the first person to impulsively rush back home if she knew everything, so Hermione would need to be creative in getting both Ginny and Ron to the Ministry without either of them doing something rash.

“Please come to the Ministry,” she told the patronus. “We need to talk.”

Short, sweet, and to the point. Her patronus couldn’t comprehend the words, but as it glided away, Hermione knew that it would relay her message without fail.

She sank down in her chair and rested her head in her hand. All she could do was hope that they both hurried.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry meets some six- and eight-legged friends (or foes). Hermione, Ron, and Ginny arrive at the Potter residence

Harry woke up flat on his back and staring at the ceiling. At least that looked the same despite his small size. There was an odd sense of comfort in that. The familiar cream expanse reminded him that he was still at home, whether it felt like it or not.

Sitting up, Harry quickly assessed that he was at the bottom of the staircase. He’d managed to roll down the rest of the way when he fell, but the carpet had softened the fall more than it would have if he’d weighed more, which might have been why he didn’t have any injuries that he could detect.

He’d been knocked unconscious though, so he knew better than to get overconfident that he was fine. There was little hope of getting to a Healer, so his own past experiences would have to guide him through the situation for the moment. His head ached, but it had hurt far worse the week before when he’d had a particularly tough day at work, and there were no other symptoms that hinted at a concussion.

He sighed and rubbed at his eyes. Though he’d long since lost track of time, he couldn’t have been awake more than several hours, yet he wanted nothing more than to curl up in bed and sleep for hours.

His stomach, tired of being ignored, chose that moment to growl. Harry pressed a hand against it and scowled. He’d eaten some toast that morning before taking his testosterone potion, but he’d planned to grab something more as he ran out the door. Obviously, that hadn’t happened, and he’d quickly forgotten that he needed food on top of everything else.

Turning away from the stairs, he looked out at what he could see of the house. The kitchen door was on his left, only a few strides away for a normally sized human, and another door frame revealed the living room if he went just a little further down the wall on his right.

The kitchen, which held the parchment, was where he’d been heading anyway. Harry treaded toward it carefully, as if he expected to go tumbling down once more. The smell of food was overwhelming at his small size somehow, and his stomach growled again, not the least bit interested in his quest for parchment.

There was no rush really. He could take a minute to get food before he wrote the letter. After all, he could focus on writing easier without the distraction of hunger.

He wandered straight to the fridge, only to freeze in front of it, his head tilting back to stare at the out-of-reach handle. The fridge door was massive, bigger than the front doors of Hogwarts when he was a child, and even harder to move. He tested it out anyway, pressing at the edge of the door because he had no hope of reaching the handle. Still suctioned close, it didn’t budge.

Stepping back, Harry scanned the kitchen in desperation. There were still the cupboards, but just about everything in them required some sort of cooking or preparation that he’d struggle to manage. Then he spotted the fruit bowl perched on the counter across from the fridge.

His stomach growled.

The bananas in the bowl were a smidge too brown and due to be thrown out. Harry wouldn’t have touched them if it weren’t a desperate time. Feeling more than a little frightened after his previous fall, he scaled up the drawers, using the handles and edges of the drawers themselves to make it.

If he fell, he’d have even less softening his fall than before, but he didn’t let that stop him. One of these drawers held the parchment anyway. He had to reach them.

He made it to the top with a racing heart and went straight for the bananas. His hands dug into the peel of the banana, his fingernails breaking it with an ease that made Harry cheer, even as it felt a little strange to have hands full of smashed banana peel. The banana inside was falling apart and mushed easily in Harry’s hand when he tore a chunk from it. 

It wasn’t the most elegant of ways to eat a banana, but he couldn’t raise the whole thing to his mouth like he typically would.

When he’d gone for the banana, he also hadn’t accounted for his stomach being smaller than before. It didn’t take long before he was full to bursting, but most of the banana remained. Harry wiped his sticky hands against his robes, not trusting his luck with the sink. It would have to be enough for the moment.

It was time to grab the parchment.

He turned to head back for the drawers when he found himself facing a monster.

Not a monster, he realized a second later. It was merely an ant.

Despite his tiny size, he was still bigger than the ant, but that was like saying a Great Dane was small compared to a normal-sized human. The ant was still far too large for an ant as far as Harry was concerned.

Ants were harmless creatures as long as they weren’t one of the stinging kinds. Harry’s gaze narrowed. He didn’t think this one could sting. On a regular day, he’d have assumed not, but he didn’t trust much of anything anymore.

What point was any prior knowledge when you were standing face-to-face with an ant as large as a dog?

* * *

Ginny arrived three minutes after Ron did, her long red ponytail trailing behind her as she hurried into the office. There were sparks in her eyes as she looked between Ron and Hermione, the office door falling shut behind her.

She didn’t waste anytime, her hands finding her hips as she hovered over the others.

“Hermione, you can’t just send a vague Patronus message like that and not expect me to be freaked out. What’s going on?”

Hermione moved around the desk to stand in front of her, ready to act at a moment’s notice if needed. Ginny wasn’t often the emotional type, but she was liable to whip out her wand without thinking if she got fired up.

“Harry never showed up for work this morning,” Hermione said, watching Ginny closely to gauge her reaction.

Ron hovered by her side, doing the same.

“Didn’t come to work?” Ginny repeated. Her brow furrowed. “But he was fine when I left this morning. He just needed to take his testosterone potion, and then he was coming straight to the Ministry. What could possibly have happened to him while Apparating?”

Hermione glanced at Ron, but he only shrugged, having no answers to his sister’s questions.

“No one knows,” Hermione said. “The Auror Office just told me he was missing a few minutes ago. They tried contacting him and got no response, but they can’t search the house without a warrant. Something definitely seems to be up.”

“Then let’s go,” Ginny said, straightening her shoulders. “We’re not accomplishing anything standing around here.”

Hermione tried to offer her an encouraging smile, but Ginny had gone into action mode, her expression stony.

Ron sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

“I really thought we were done with the rule breaking and nearly getting killed after the war,” he muttered as Hermione took down the box of Floo powder from above her fireplace.

“We’re not breaking any rules,” Hermione pointed out as she held the box out to him. “We’re going to Harry and Ginny’s house, and self-defense is justifiable in front of the Wizengamot.”

Ron grasped a handful of powder.

“Still…”

He shrugged and stepped into the fire, shouting the name of the Potter residence a split second before he disappeared.

* * *

It felt like Harry stared at that ant for hours, though it was really only seconds before his brain caught up with the situation.

Turning, he ran from the partially eaten banana to the drawers that he’d used to climb onto the counter. When he got there, he had to slow down to keep from falling, and he glanced back at the banana to assess the threat level.

The ant had lost interest in him and was instead going after the banana with a ferocity that Harry hadn’t known ants were capable of. He’d never be able to look at them the same way again.

Despite the ant being occupied, he lowered himself down the drawers as quickly as possible, well aware that, where there was one ant, there were often others.

Going down was even more difficult than going up had been. It was hard to reach the drawer handles and balance on the parts of them that jutted out, but Harry managed in the end after only a few close calls. The ringing in his ears lessened slightly once he was on the kitchen floor, but he didn’t let that slow him down.

Ants had no problem climbing counters, and if the one above had friends, they were probably coming from somewhere on the floor. Harry kept his eyes peeled as he hurried out of the kitchen and to the stairs.

All thoughts of writing a letter had fled his mind in his panic.

He began climbing the stairs, certain that the upper level was safer from ants if nothing else. Never before had he been thankful for Ginny’s rule about not eating in the bedroom. It felt like a godsend.

Just like with the drawers, going up the stairs probably would have been easier than going down them except that Harry could no longer feel his arms. He considered himself to be in fairly good shape thanks to his Auror work, so he couldn’t imagine how he’d be doing if he had a less physically demanding job.

Several times, he almost lost his grip, but he made it to the top eventually without spotting a single ant.

He collapsed onto his back and stared up at the ceiling in a position not all that different from how he’d woken up at the bottom of the stairs earlier that morning.

There was a spider web in an upper corner of the hall that Harry had never noticed. He wondered how long it had been there before he remembered his size and how large the ant had been in front of him.

He shot up, his gaze still on the web.

If an ant had seemed large, what would a spider look like? Even many of the smaller ones were huge compared to ants. Harry’s heart raced as he considered what he could do if he faced one.

When he thought of ant diets, he thought of fruits and sweets and plant matter, but he knew that spiders ate bugs. And he was the size of a bug, if not an actual bug. Would a spider be able to tell the difference? Would it care?

His mind working in overdrive again, he ran to his and Ginny’s bedroom. His wand was lying in the same spot on the floor, untouched. He grinned as he ran for it. His hand was on it before he remembered that it was useless to him at the moment. Using it was such second nature that his brain couldn’t accept the reality of the situation.

He collapsed next to the wand, his hand still pressed against its surface. He muttered a few protection spells to himself on the off chance that just one of them would work. If they did, there was no evidence of it.

Despite that, he felt safer with his wand next to him. Even if it was nothing more than a security blanket, it put him at ease. Going back down to the kitchen to write a letter that might not even be read suddenly felt like a terrible idea when he couldn’t defend himself.

Someone would come looking for him, and they’d find his wand, if nothing else. He should be waiting beside it when they came. He was big enough to be seen with the naked eye as far as he could tell. They’d see him if they saw the wand first.

He’d just resolved himself to the new plan when something grabbed him from behind.

* * *

The house was silent when Hermione, Ron, and Ginny entered. Nothing appeared amiss, and Ginny quickly dropped what sense of caution she’d had as she rushed farther into the house.

With a groan of frustration, Hermione followed her, leaving Ron to bring up the rear.

“Guys, look at this!” Ginny exclaimed from the kitchen.

Hermione’s heart pounded as she entered the room only to find Ginny bent over a bunch of bananas, of all things.

“Ginny, what are you–“

One of the bananas was crawling with ants. Hermione took a step back, almost colliding with Ron. There was a long line of ants leading from the banana to the crack where the wall and floor met on the other side of the kitchen. They were both coming and going, carting banana titbits with them as they went.

“I think you have an ant problem, Gin,” Ron said with a smirk.

He hovered in the doorway and eyed the ants as if they might be responsible for Harry’s disappearance. Hermione did have to admit that it was a strange coincidence all things considered.

Ginny’s glare made Ron step back even farther until he was half hiding himself in the hallway.

Hermione ignored them as she approached the banana. The swarm of ants had made it difficult at first to see that one of the bananas had been split open in a strange way. It looked like a tear in a piece of fabric, tugged from either side of the tear, instead of one that started from the top or bottom of the fruit.

“What happened to it?” Ron asked as he joined Hermione at her side. “I don’t think ants can do that, can they?”

Hermione wanted to grab the banana to better inspect it, but the number of ants on it prevented her from doing so. She bent down low instead. Not one of the ants paid attention to the shadow she created over them as they continued on their mission.

“Definitely not an ant,” she muttered. “If it was any kind of bug, it would have to have been something a lot bigger.”

“Like a beetle…” He gulped. “Or a spider?”

Ron shrunk back with the question, his eyes glancing around the room furtively.

“We’ve never had a problem with bugs before,” Ginny said.

Hermione tugged out her wand and muttered a quick spell.

“No one’s been in this house since Harry was, but I don’t sense a magical signature from him either. It’s safe to conclude that we’re the only ones here.”

“Besides some freaky ants,” Ron muttered, only to be ignored by both women.

“Do you think it’s related to Harry?” Ginny asked. “It’s kind of weird to find something like this after he disappeared, isn’t it?”

“It’s weird to find something like this any time, Gin,” Ron said. “No one wants their bananas randomly ripping open. What if it’s actually mice? You know, I really hate mice.”

Hermione raised an eyebrow.

“You used to have a pet rat.”

“Not the same,” Ron said with a shutter. “Mice...scurry all over the place.”

Hermione sighed and stepped in between Ron and Ginny to protect her husband from his increasingly agitated sister, who had taken to glaring at him as if her eyes were daggers.

“It’s weird,” she agreed, “but it doesn’t tell us anything. We need to keep searching. Since there don’t seem to be any active threats, maybe we can split up?”

It seemed like the safest idea for everyone. Luckily, the others agreed.

* * *

Harry flailed, his arms and legs coming into contact with hairy limbs that were decidedly less soft than those of humans. Looking down, he saw large black pinchers around his waist. His mind flashed back to Aragog and his children in the Forbidden Forest. Harry had thought he’d escaped any more encounters like that, but if he’d learned any lesson in life, it was that he shouldn’t get his hopes up about those sorts of things. Trouble always found him after all.

The spider began dragging him backward, and Harry’s flailing intensified. For something that was easy to squash when full-size, the spider was impressively resilient against Harry’s onslaught. No matter how many times he hit the spider’s limbs, it continued on as if it didn’t feel a thing.

It dragged Harry under the bed, and Harry grabbed at the bed skirt. The grip around his waist tightened, and letting out a shout of fear, Harry released the fabric, allowing the spider to retreat even farther into the dark.

Harry kept his eyes peeled on the light shining through the bottom of the bed skirt. It was the one piece of hope he had left. He had to escape and get back to it.

He sneezed as the spider carried him to a corner. Dust balls the size of tumbleweeds littered the floor, and Harry hoped they were making a trail through it, though he held little hope of a trail so small being found.

The spider reached what must have been its chosen corner and placed Harry down. He made to run, but only made it one step when the spider’s fangs sunk into his back. The venom that would have made him itchy on a bad day as a normal-sized person quickly paralyzed him at his current size. He fought against it, but it was no use. His own limbs couldn’t obey his brain.

It was one of the most terrifying sensations of his life. He felt the spider’s venom spreading through his veins like hot coffee in his stomach on a cold winter’s morning.

The spider made short work of wrapping him up. The spread of the venom had distracted Harry enough that his arms were pinned to his sides before he realized what was happening. 

He looked into the beady eyes of the spider as it loomed over him and gulped.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get better acquainted with our new spider friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter contains depictions of spiders mating, though it's not particularly detailed.
> 
> You all would _love_ my search history.
> 
> But, also, don't expect this to be scientifically accurate.

Splitting up was short lived. Hermione let Ginny inspect her and Harry’s bedroom while she and Ron went farther down the hall, but a shout from Ginny had them hurrying back within seconds.

They rushed into the room to find Ginny stooped over something on the floor. Coming closer, Hermione realized that Ginny was clutching a wand to her chest. Only the ends of it were visible in Ginny’s tight grip, but the wand was undeniably Harry’s. Hermione had never forgotten it since she’d broken it all those years ago.

“He was kidnapped,” Ginny snapped, her eyes darting around the room as if the perpetrator would be standing there plain as day. “Why else would his wand be lying here without him?”

“It is strange,” Ron said, squatting down next to Ginny and patting her back. “What Auror just loses their wand? It seems like there might have been a struggle of some kind.”

Hermione inspected the rest of the room. She hadn’t been inside it since they’d helped Harry and Ginny move in to the house and she’d helped carry the boxes labelled as clothes. Still, despite her lack of familiarity, it didn’t seem like anything had been disturbed.

“If you’re going to kidnap someone,” she said slowly, “why cover your tracks but leave their wand just lying out plain as day? It doesn’t make sense.”

Ron and Ginny both frowned, but Ron shrugged as he stood up and wandered over to her side.

“I’m sure Harry put up a fight,” he said. “Even if they’d planned to take the wand, they needed to get out of here before he overpowered them. It would be just like Harry to thwart their perfect plan.”

There was hope in his words that Hermione didn’t want to crush. Kidnapping was a terrible situation, but it at least provided him a narrative for what had happened to his friend. Hermione stayed quiet; she didn’t have a better theory to offer.

“‘Mione,” Ron said, “we have to take the wand back to the Ministry, so the Aurors can run the usual tests on them. That’s our best shot at figuring out what happened to Harry.”

Ginny shot to her feet, hair swirling around her. She backed away from them with Harry’s wand clutched to her chest.

“The Ministry? Why the Ministry? That would take too much time. You used to be an Auror, Ron. Can’t you perform the spells here?”

Ron looked at Hermione pointedly, and she sighed. Stepping forward, she wrapped an arm around Ginny’s shoulders that she hoped appeared to be more about comfort than restraint.

“Do you remember the privacy laws that I was able to get passed several years ago? It was at the same time that we made it illegal for Aurors to just waltz into someone’s home. The spells that Ron wants to perform on Harry’s wand are also illegal unless they’re performed at the Ministry with the proper authorization. There are exceptions that allow Aurors to perform them on the field, but nothing about this situation fits those exceptions, and none of us are Aurors besides.”

Ginny’s gaze sent daggers to Hermione’s stomach, and Hermione took a step back, holding her hands up in surrender.

“Gin,” she pleaded, “how could I know that something like this would happen to Harry of all people? The intent behind the law was a good one, and it’s worked well. Just because there’s this one incident that personally inconveniences us, that doesn’t mean—”

“Hermione,” Ron interrupted softly, “we should probably get going now.”

He put a gentle hand against her back not unlike he’d done to Ginny earlier. Ginny’s eyes still sparked with fire, but she didn’t say anything as Ron and Hermione led the way back downstairs.

When she threw the Floo powder in the flames and spoke the Ministry’s name, it was as if her voice amplified the flames.

* * *

Harry stared up into the many eyes of the spider above him. It was Aragog all over again except he was already captured and unable to run. He squeezed his eyes shut like a toddler who thinks that, if they just don’t look, the horror will go away.

He’d never be found. His disappearance would be a mystery, and all because he’d struggled with putting on his robes one day.

The spider’s web began shaking out of nowhere. At first, Harry thought his captor was responsible, but then he realized that the spider who’d found him was on the opposite side of the web, away from the shaking.

His eyes shot open. A new spider had appeared, one which was far smaller. Harry gulped. What did that mean? Did he smell so delicious that a smaller spider would risk their life to get a taste?

The two spiders faced each other, Harry an unwitting witness to the encounter. The smaller spider kept its distance while constructing a web of its own. Harry’s brow furrowed as he watched it work. The newcomer didn’t seem in a rush to eat him at least, and the large spider didn’t attack either of them, though it seemed to lose interest as the smaller spider worked.

Once the smaller spider was done, Harry watched as it released some kind of liquid from its rear end. He cringed and shut his eyes. The entire situation kept getting weirder, and he could see no end in sight.

The smaller spider vibrated the web again, and Harry watched, transfixed, as it came towards the larger spider with its front limbs raised. As it got closer, Harry realized that they were coated in the liquid from earlier.

The larger spider turned so that it’s rear end faced the oncoming spider, and a split second before they met, Harry audibly gasped as he realized what was happening.

He squeezed his eyes shut again, feeling like he might vomit up the banana he’d eaten earlier. He was still going to die, and he was going to do it after witnessing spider sex of all things!

Had anyone ever gone in a worse way?

In a surge of panic and anger, he strained against the web once more.

* * *

The Ministry was quiet when they stumbled out of the fireplace, which Hermione was grateful for. Ginny looked like she was on a mission, and the wrong person spotting them would mean questions raised and rumors spread.

It had only been a week since Rita Skeeter’s last article that accused Ginny of having an affair, and if the so-called journalist was lurking about, she’d find a way to spin what she saw into a story that she’d already dreamt up for herself.

Ginny wasn’t thinking about that though. She was making a beeline for the elevator before Hermione and Ron had followed her through the fire, and the two of them hurried after her, with Hermione casting apologetic glances at the few people who they roughly brushed past in their hurry.

By the time they caught up to Ginny, she was waiting impatiently by the elevator, tapping her foot.

“How long will it take to test the wand?” she asked, her gaze on Ron.

He held his hands up as if he was being accused of something.

“Depends on how busy they are,” he said. “I can’t test it myself since I don’t work there anymore. I’ll have to talk to Lawrence or whoever I can find.”

The tightening of Ginny’s jaw hinted that she wasn’t happy with that answer. Hermione placed a hand on her shoulder, which only made her tense.

“Why don’t we let Ron take the wand to the Auror Office? We can have some tea in my office in the meantime.”

It was only because she had been on the receiving end of it so many times that Hermione didn’t flinch when Ginny glared at her.

“You should go with Hermione,” Ron told her, just as unaffected as his wife. “There won’t be anything for you to do with that wand, and waiting with the Aurors will only stress you out more. Try to relax a bit, and I’ll come find you the second the tests are done.”

Ginny deflated and leaned into Hermione’s side, letting the other woman wrap an arm around her shoulders.

“Okay,” she said.

At that same moment, the elevator doors dinged open. Ginny moved to get on before realizing that the man in front of them was none other than Earl Graves, a recent Prophet hire who idolized Skeeter. He’d chosen to write his second article ever about the Potter family. Most likely without realizing what he was getting himself into.

Ginny narrowed her eyes, but the man, not long out of Hogwarts, wasn’t eager to ask them questions as Hermione ushered GInny past him and onto the elevator.

He watched them until the doors of the elevator had slid shut again, which could only mean one thing.

* * *

The sheer terror deep in Harry’s bones gave him a burst of adrenaline, and the spider’s web broke free around him. The spiders, used to erratic escape attempts from their prey that were unsuccessful, didn’t stop what they were doing as Harry anxiously swatted at the web remained that still clung to his clothes and skin and hair. Merlin, would he ever get it out of his hair?

He shivered as he ran. He had little doubt that the spiders could have overtaken him if they reacted fast enough, but he didn’t glance back as he headed straight for the bed skirt.

He nearly stumbled over it, not lifting it fast enough as he tumbled out from under the bed, but he felt safer once it was closed behind him. One more obstacle for the spiders to make it past before they got to him.

But it wasn’t enough. Harry wasn’t sure that he’d never be far enough away from those spiders.

He headed straight for the bedroom door, his eyes peeled for anything that moved.


	4. Chapter 4

The second Hermione closed her office door behind them, Ginny exploded with pent up energy.

“What is Graves doing poking around the Ministry anyway?” she snapped, throwing up her arms as she simultaneously threw her body into a chair. “Last I checked, they had him covering the business section of the paper. Don’t tell me he’s angling for a promotion and plans on using our family to do it. Again!”

Hermione sighed and wandered over to the small card where she kept a tea set. She tapped the kettle with her wand, and it began to heat up.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” she cautioned, though she agreed that the man was liable to do just as Ginny had said. “We have enough to deal with as it is. There’s no use worrying about an article until it exists.”

Ginny grumbled and crossed her arms against her chest. Hermione tapped the kettle again, willing it to heat up faster.

“Imagine what he’d write,” Ginny muttered to herself. “My husband’s missing. Harry Potter is missing. The Daily Prophet would have a field day if they found out. As if that’s what anyone needs.”

She froze, her brown eyes narrowing a second later.

“The whole Auror office will know by now, I suppose,” she mused. “Do you think that’s where Graves was coming from?”

The kettle began to whistle. Hermione shook her head as she poured water into each of their cups.

“Harry’s their boss,” she said as she passed one of the cups to Ginny. “None of them would spread rumors about him to the papers. They’ve seen firsthand how it affects him.”

Ginny deflated and took a sip of her tea though it was nowhere near done steeping. She shook her head as she sat it down on the small table at her side. Hermione settled into her own chair, running her thumb along the rim of her cup as she thought.

“You’re right,” Ginny said. “Harry thinks highly of them, and they’re good at their jobs. They wouldn’t violate Harry’s privacy like that. I’m just frustrated, Hermione. Where could he have gone!? He just vanished like that.”

She snapped her fingers before waving the same hand through the air.

“The Aurors will be performing the spells now,” Hermione said softly. “We’ll see what comes of it.”

The words were the closest thing to comfort that she could provide, but they didn’t do much for Ginny, who slumped in her chair and forgot the calming cup of tea beside her.

“Harry’s always going to get himself into trouble, isn’t he?” she mused, her eyes focused on some distant spot far outside Hermione’s office.

Hermione couldn’t help but smile.

“Of course he is,” she said. “He’s Harry Potter.”

Ginny snorted, her mind still far away.

* * *

Not knowing what to do, Harry ran to the opposite end of the hall. He couldn’t descend the stairs quickly, especially not when his arms still ached from all of the climbing he’d already done. Still, the upstairs was nothing but dead ends all over the place. Harry’s only hope is that the spiders wouldn’t bother to track him.

From what he knew, some spiders could be hunters, but most seemed to lazily wait about their webs until their food came to them. That spider had grabbed him, but maybe that had been a fluke. At any rate, he couldn’t say for sure that the spider was particularly quick. Despite his small size, Harry’s legs moved as rapidly as ever, and he felt like he could outrun a spider. He hoped that wasn’t misplaced optimism.

He kept running, past the toilet and straight to the small linen closet at the opposite end. The door to the closet was latched closed, and Harry had no hope of opening it. He backed against the door and slid down until he was sitting. Facing the hall, he couldn’t detect any signs of the spider. He supposed that, whether they could have chased him down or not, mating took precedence over one meal. He shivered at the thought.

A chilly breeze brushed against his back and made him shiver. Harry turned, realizing that the crack under the door appeared much larger at his current size. He stuck a hand under to test his relative size. He could reach his hand all the way in, but squeezing his whole body through would have been risky. The last thing he wanted was to be stuck and helpless.

He bent over and peered through the door, but it was too dark inside to see much of anything. Though he’d never thought of himself as being afraid of the dark, it made him shiver again, feeling as powerless as he did. 

There had been spiders and various bugs in that very same closet before. Surely, they were still there. Harry inched away from the door, watching it distrustfully. 

As far as he could tell, nowhere in the house was safe any longer. He sighed and tilted his head back to look at the ceiling, as high as any clouds in the sky. No solution magically fell into his lap like he had hoped for.

There was a sound of scratching from the closet. Harry froze and turned to listen better. Something seemed to be stirring inside, perhaps woken up by Harrypoking about.

Harry stood, keeping an eye on the opening under the door. 

Whatever it was, it was making too much noise for a bug.

They’d had mice before, though Harry swore they’d gotten rid of them. His heart sank as there was more scratching inside.

Where else did he have to go?

* * *

Ron hovered over Lawrence’s shoulder as she performed the spells on the wand. Once he hadn’t needed to calm Ginny down, his own anxiety had shot up, and he couldn’t stop pacing and bouncing on the balls of his feet as Lawrence worked.

He opened and closed his hands, occasionally clapping them together for no reason as he paced. He hated that he wasn’t authorized to perform the spells himself anymore. They were such simple spells really. He could have done it easily, and it would have given him something to do. He really needed something to do before his anxiety got the better of them.

“Finished,” Lawrence announced, nearly snorting at the speed with which Ron twirled to face her.

Ron ignored the reaction, his gaze zeroing in on the wand as if its physical appearance would now give away its secrets.

“What did you find?” he asked.

“The last spell this wand performed was a shrinking spell,” Lawrence said, her grin slipping into a frown.

The current and former Aurors looked at each other as they both thought the same thing.

“I expected some kind of defensive spell,” Ron admitted. “What could Harry possibly have needed to shrink?”

He knew what Lawrence was going to say before she spoke, but he didn’t stop her. He needed to hear the words, still unable to believe what had become the most likely story.

“The last spell he performed was a shrinking spell, and Harry was nowhere to be found near his wand,” she said slowly. “If it was an attack, you should have found more evidence of it. Right now, I truly do believe that Harry Potter is still at home. My advice as an Auror is to proceed as if he shrunk himself.”

Ron swore and took to pacing again, tapping his fingers against his arm as he went.

“How does the Head Auror accidentally shrink himself?” he exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.

Lawrence sighed and leaned against the edge of her desk, Harry’s wand still in her hand.

“We all make mistakes, even Harry Potter.”

Ron snorted. When Lawrence offered Harry’s wand, he took it, storing it back into his pocket. He rubbed at his brow in irritation.

“Yeah, we all make mistakes,” he muttered.

Pulling himself together, he held his hand out for Lawrence to shake.

“Thank you again for the help,” he said. “I’ll be sure to let you know what happens, for better or worse.”

“Course,” Lawrence said, giving him a nod as they dropped hands. “I hope you can get my boss back here in one piece so I can give him hell for leaving me to run this department by myself.”

Ron nearly shuddered in sympathy for what Harry had coming for him once he returned to the Auror Office. He knew from experience that the circumstances of his disappearance wouldn’t stay a secret, and if he really had shrunk himself… Well, Ron didn’t envy him the fall out.

“Yeah,” Ron said with one final wave goodbye. “We’ll get him back as soon as possible.”

* * *

With blood thrumming in his ears, Harry headed for the stairs. His arms and legs ached from the constant climbing, but he didn’t see what other choice he had.

The scratching from some unknown entity in the closet replayed in his mind as he went. Passing the bedroom door, he stayed close to the opposite wall, determined not to encounter any of his dear spider friends either.

By the time he reached the stairs, he was already breathing heavily, but he didn’t let that slow him down. Instead of hanging on like the last time, he did his best to slide down them like a slide, his heart racing each time he gave control over to gravity.

Whether it was luck or a miracle, he made it to the bottom without tumbling all the way down line that morning. The nasty carpet burn he had was nothing compared to the complete crash he felt as the adrenaline left his system.

He still needed to move though. There was no time to let his body recover, and he hurried towards the living room and the fireplace.

The living room was one room he hadn’t entered since shrinking, and he tried to repress the shiver of fear he felt when he saw the cavernous place. He and Ginny had purposefully chosen a house on the smaller end, neither of them quite comfortable with a lot of empty space, but Harry was beginning to see their cozy home in a completely new light.

Just the fireplace looked like a massive cave, dark and unlit as it was. Harry shuddered to think what it would look like to him if it was lit.

That wasn’t important anyway. He approached the brick, analyzing it carefully. Theoretically, the grooves between the bricks should have made for easier climbing than the stairs, but the bricks were large enough that Harry found it difficult to use them as foot holds while straining for the next brick.

He tried anyway, getting up several bricks before he had amassed a number of cuts along his hands from gripping at the stone.

Tilting his head back, the mantle where the Floo Powder sat felt like the top of Mount Everest. At the rate he was going, he’d be a bloody mess by the time he got there, and that wouldn’t help the situation in the slightest.

As carefully as he could, he lowered himself back down the bricks and collapsed onto the cold stone in front of the fireplace. He shivered.

The Floo Powder was hopeless. He wasn’t going to make it to the top, and even if he did, how would he get help whenever he made it wherever he was going either.

He growled, hitting his fist against the stone and cringing from the pain that followed.

He would need another plan. He just didn’t know what that plan could be.

* * *

Ron tapped Harry’s wand against his thigh without a thought as he made his way to Hermione’s office, hardly sparing a glance at the other members of the department who he was quite friendly with. 

Approaching the office, he couldn’t hear a sound, but he figured it had to be a silencing charm. When he entered to find both women quietly sipping their tea, he stopped in his tracks. His wife and sister stared back, Ginny tense but otherwise quiet.

Ron hated it. Ginny was always someone who reacted loudly, whether out of anger or excitement. To see her reacting the exact opposite as usual almost made Ron more nervous than the fact Harry was missing.

“I have some surprising news,” he said, keeping his eyes on Ginny.

Eventually, she would become his sister again, and he planned to be prepared for the explosion when it came.

“Surprising?” Ginny repeated, her gaze narrowing in on Harry’s wand still gripped in Ron’s fist.

Ron held it out to her and didn’t miss the slight sigh of relief she gave once she was holding it. On any other day, he would have pushed her buttons over not trusting him. On that day, he let it go.

“Yes, surprising. The last spell that Harry’s wand performed was a shrinking spell.”

Ginny glanced up from the wand, a crease in her brow.

“What could Harry want to shrink? Everything seemed to be in place when we were at the house.”

“Everything but Harry,” Hermione added, sharing a knowing look with Ron. “I imagine Lawrence thinks Harry shrunk himself?”

“What!?” Ginny shot out before Ron could confirm Hermione’s suspicions. “Why would he do that? That’s the most ridiculous defensive spell I’ve ever heard of.”

“He might not have been using it defensively,” Ron pointed out, keeping an eye on Ginny as he perched himself on the edge of Hermione’s desk. “You had to notice the same thing I did at the house, Gin. There are absolutely no signs that anyone broke in. Harry seems to have been alone.”

“The banana…”

“Was opened in a strange way,” Hermione finished for her. “We all thought it was odd, but if Harry’s tiny, then it’s possible that’s the only way he could get it open. He also wouldn’t be able to carry his wand, which would explain why we have it. It does make the most sense with the information that we have at our disposal.”

Ginny digested the information, her brow furrowed. Then she shot straight up in the chair, a new spark in her eye.

“That means we can fix it easily, right? We just need to go back to the house, find him, and reverse the spell.”

“Theoretically,” Hermione agreed, “the most challenging part should be finding him.”

Ron tossed a confident grin at her over his shoulder.

“But now that we know what we’re looking for, that should be a piece of cake,” he said.”

A glint in Hermione’s eye hinted that she didn’t entirely believe that herself, but after casting a furtive look at Ginny, she kept her mouth shut.


	5. Chapter 5

Harry grunted as he pushed against the window sill with every ounce of strength he had. The edge of the window tug into his shoulder and hands, but he didn’t let that stop him. Beyond the glass, the garden looked like one of those large public gardens that sprawled over large areas of land. He knew that, even if he got out there, he would have to face even more critters than there were inside, but he had few other options.

Sitting around quietly and waiting for someone to come just wasn’t in Harry Potter’s vocabulary.

After a few shoves that took all of his energy, he sunk down on the window sill, his feet not even hanging over the edge. The glass was cool against his back, a welcome feeling after exerting himself so much.

The window hadn’t so much as budged. Maybe he’d have more luck it it was already cracked open, but he had no hope of cracking the seal at his current size.

His eyes scanned the living room again, but they were listless. He clunked his head back, wincing when it hit the glass. Yet again, he was out of ideas.

* * *

Ginny led her brother and sister-in-law through the halls of the Ministry back up to where the Apparition stations sat. She walked with just as much purpose as she had arrived, not even bothering to keep an eye out for stray journalists. Neither Ron nor Hermione tried to slow her down.

When they reached the station, Ginny twirled around to face the others, a spark in her eye.

“Just so we’re clear,” she said. “Once we find him and get him back to normal size, I’m the one who gets to kill him.”

Neither of the others said a thing before she disappeared with a pop, but Ron turned to Hermione once she was gone, a small grin on his lips despite the situation.

“I think you’re supposed to have her arrested for that,” he said.

Hermione shook her head and Apparated away herself.

* * *

Harry was still sitting on the windowsill and looking out at the room listlessly as he jiggled his legs to get rid of some of the endless energy coursing through his veins. He had yet to come up with a plan, though it wasn’t for a lack of effort. His brain was going a mile a minute but kept being distracted by strange noises or movements that he swore were more creepy crawlers staking him out.

The front door opened out in the entrance hall, and Harry shot up from where he’d been leaning against the window.

Voices.

They sounded strange to tiny Harry’s ears. He couldn’t line them up with anyone he knew, but he didn’t think he would have been able to recognize anyone’s voice at such a size. It was somewhat like having a giant boom down at you. Or eating the giant banana even. Things just weren’t the same anymore.

But no matter who it was, it was his only chance of being saved. He hurried to the edge of the windowsill and grabbed onto the curtains. He used them to lower himself to the ground, his arms still shaking from all of the exertion. They didn’t brush the ground, leaving Harry to jump a sizable distance. His legs shook as they made contact even though it was with a plush carpet. If he ever did return to full size, he’d have to sleep off major exhaustion, but that was something to deal with later.

He hurried for the door to see who had finally come for him.


	6. Chapter 6

His wife and best friends towered over him as Harry rushed for the door. He waved his hands desperately, hoping against all hope that they would see him before they crushed him. Each of their wands were drawn, but Harry hardly had time to analyze the situation. They were looking at the floor, almost as if they expected him to be there. 

Harry shouted as Ron looked directly at him. He wasn’t sure if he could be heard or not, but Ron’s eyes lit up in recognition. With a wave of his wand, Harry felt his entire body expand. He blinked several times as he readjusted to his surroundings. Everything was normal-sized, but he felt the same way he did whenever he got a new pair of glasses with a stronger prescription.

“Harry!” Ginny shouted. She rushed forward and took him by the arm. Harry leant into it, appreciating how it steadied him. He didn’t quite trust his legs yet.

“Thank Merlin!” he gasped, patting at himself as if it would somehow confirm that he was his usual size again.

“What happened?” Hermioned asked.

She and Ron had surged in close, enclosing him in a bubble along with Ginny.

“Seriously,” Ron added. “I don’t think I actually believed you were shrunk until we found you, mate. Did someone do that to you?”

Harry’s cheeks burned as he relived that morning in his mind.

“I tripped over my robes while getting dressed,” he admitted, keeping his gaze averted. “It was an accident.”

The other three were quiet for a moment before Ron burst into laughter. Hermione shot him a disapproving glare even as she fought back a small smile of her own. Ginny disguised hers more cleverly by giving Harry a kiss on the cheek.

“I’m just glad you’re alright, love,” she said, patting him on the shoulder.

“Yeah,” Harry said, shuddering at his memories of the day. “Me too.”

They stood there awkwardly, none of them quite sure how to move on past what they had experienced. Harry was still missing as far as the Auror Office was concerned, and all of them were ostensibly supposed to be at work. Yet it felt too bizarre to do anything in that moment.

“Gin,” Harry finally spoke up quietly. He waited until her clear brown eyes were on his before he continued. “Can we clean this place out? Is there some spell that kills spiders? I’m a bit worried.”

Ginny stared back in bemusement.

“I’ll see what I can do,” she said, not hiding her grin as effectively the second time around. She patted him on the chest though. “But try not to worry about the spiders. You’re a lot bigger than they are now.”

It may have been true, but Harry still shivered as he thought of them out there somewhere in the house, dreaming of feasting on him.

He’d never be able to sleep in their bed again.

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me on [Tumblr](http://madetofly.tumblr.com) if you'd like!


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